Although some S.D.A. workers never come in contact with habitual drinkers, many do, and those who do not never know when they may be called upon to meet this problem. Therefore it behooves us all to be well informed on the question of alcoholism and how to deal with it from a moral and religious viewpoint. Mrs. Howard is well qualified to speak on this topic, having formerly served as recreational therapist at the Washingtonian Hospital in Boston, also editor of the "Scientific Temperance Journal" in Boston, and editor of National W.C.T.U. literature. She is a graduate of Atlantic Union College, and a Fellow of the Yale School of Alcohol Studies. She was called to the Temperance Department of the General Conference within the year. This is the first in a series of three important articles. In the second, she answers the question, Why do people drink? in an article titled, "Some Causes of Alcoholism." In the third, the question is answered, How can I help the alcoholic break his habit? under the title, "Pastoral Counseling for the Alcoholic."
A part of his pastoral duties, the minister should be prepared to help the members of his flock in meeting the various social problems which life presents. Although Seventh-day Adventists are abstinent as a church, any member may have relatives who are not, and who may even be alcoholics. Moreover, it is not unlikely that some of our own flock who were inebriates before they Came to us might slip occasionally.
The alcoholic has a soul to save. It is worth saving. In his present condition he cannot be saved. "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." i Cor. 6 :io. By the grace of God he can be saved. "Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)." Eph. 2:5. Ministers of the gospel have the privilege and duty of acquainting the alcoholic with the grace of God. This task will be performed more effectively if the minister understands some of the characteristics, idiosyncracies, and foibles of the alcoholic. To obtain this understanding, the first step is to know something about the nature of alcohol and its effect upon the human system.
There is a large family of alcohols, the radical OH being their chemical symbol or family name. Methyl, or wood, alcohol and ethyl, or grain, alcohol are the two kinds used to produce intoxication. Methyl alcohol is not expected to be used internally, but sometimes it is imbibed, and disastrous results follow. It produces atrophy of the optic nerve which leads to blindness. The only nonpoisonous alcohol is glycerol.
Physically, ethyl alcohol (the kind found in beverages of alcoholic content) is a fluid closely resembling water in appearance. It has a strong affinity for water ; it 'soaks it up" readily. It is a solvent of practically everything which water will dissolve. The boiling point for alcohol is 78° C., and the freezing point is —130° C.
Dextrose, or grape sugar, is most readily used for fermentation and formation of alcohol; cane sugar must be treated and changed to invert sugar before it is fermentable. Also used as sources of alcohol are honey, nuts, chicory root, moss, sawdust, and even grass.
Alcohol, because of its solvent properties, is in great demand for commercial purposes, being used in the manufacture of thousands of useful articles. Here, it has a legitimate place and is a benefactor to mankind.
Alcohol within the body acts as a selective narcotic poison, more recently called an anesthetic because it acts like ether, chloroform, and so forth, by depressing the higher brain centers first, and continuing in a progressive descending action. Alcohol selects one special body tissue as its own particular property. That tissue is nervous tissue. It attacks the nervous system first, and anesthetizes it.
There is but one medium through which man may communicate with God, and that is through the nervous system. Put to sleep that means of communication, or even dull it to a degree, and you have lessened or destroyed man's opportunity to hear the still, small voice. Therefore, it is no wonder that the drunkard cannot enter the kingdom of heaven; he cannot hear the voice that calls him there.
Action of Alcohol on the Human Body
When alcohol enters the body, this is what happens. A small amount is absorbed into the blood stream directly from the stomach, the amount thus absorbed depending upon how much food is already there (the more food, the less absorption). Most of the ingested alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream from the small intestine. Only a residual part is absorbed from the large intestine.
The blood stream circulates very rapidly (at the rate of about 55 feet a minute in the large arteries). Soon all the tissues of the body are bathed with the alcohol-impregnated blood. What alcohol does as it passes through the capillaries of the brain will be understood more clearly if the three levels of integration in the brain are considered first.
Roughly speaking, the first and highest level of integration is found in that part of the brain which you cover when you put the heel of your hand over your eyebrows and stretch your fingers backward over your forehead. Here is the cortex of the cerebrum, that superficial layer which is so often pictured as being folded to form numerous wrinkles.
The second level of integration is located near the center of the brain. The third level is in the brain stem, which is a funnel-shaped part of the brain continuous with the upper part of the spinal cord.
When you came into this world, the third level of integration was already functioning. Your heart was beating and had been, since the fourth week after conception. Your hands, with which you so readily clutched at anything placed in them, had been flexing since the twelfth week; and at once, when you were on your own, your lungs began to function and you could and did cry. All these muscular movements are controlled by nerve cells in the third level of integration, which had been functioning for several weeks before birth.
With the passage of time you began to learn certain skilled movements, such as walking. Further along, you learned to play games and perform complicated manipulations with your fingers, such as the process of writing, playing musical instruments, learning a trade. The nervous patterns and connections for these skilled, progressive, associated movements are found at the second level of integration.
Judgment, reason, appreciation of the arts, noble sentiments, and spiritual strivings are developed as the individual grows older. These qualities depend on the first and highest level of integration. This is the last part of the brain to be developed. Its development may go on throughout this life, and no doubt, the life to come.
Alcohol and Integration
What action does alcohol have on these levels of integration? The cerebral cortex, highest and last developed level of integration, is the first to be anesthetized by the imbibed alcohol. Judgment and reason are quickly impaired. Inhibitions are deadened, and the drinker may say and do things which ordinarily he would not.
All people do not react alike under the influence of alcohol, but the general pattern is the same. With a blood alcohol content below .05 per cent, little, if any, evidence of intoxication is noted. From .05 to .12 per cent, the cerebral cortex may be anesthetized to varying degrees, but as yet, impairment is largely psychological, and physical signs usually do not yet appear. Impairment, so ' far, is in the highest level of integration.
This is one of the most dangerous stages of drunkenness, because the drinker thinks he is perfectly capable of handling his affairs even better than usual. In reality, his performance may be considerably impaired. This is the stage in which the intoxicated driver so often has an automobile accident because judgment of spatial relations and of time are impaired.
In the United States, when the blood alcohol reaches .15 per cent, the individual is legally recognized as drunk and a menace on the road. In Sweden a driver is considered dangerous to traffic when the concentration reaches .o8 per cent. With a .55 per cent concentration the individual has become very self-assured and often exceedingly devilish.
As soon as the blood altohol begins to exceed .55 per cent, the second level of integration becomes involved and physical signs of drunkenness appear. The skilled movements, such as walking, are now beginning to be impaired. To the former loss of judgment now comes added loss of muscle co-ordination.
When the blood content has reached as high as .3 per cent, a stage of confusion is attained. A loss of the sense of propriety and the power of voluntary attention is noted. The individual now sees two moons in the sky (double vision) , a roaring in the ears develops, speech becomes loud (because the drinker cannot hear well), slurred, and thickened. It is at this stage that the policeman asks his victim to say "Methodist Episcopal" and "Massachusetts Institute of Technology," just to prove he isn't drunk. The inebriate often becomes very sick and dizzy. He staggers; he cannot walk in a straight line or stand erect when his eyes are closed. Now all the world knows him for a drunken person. The physical signs of intoxication are easily seen.
As more alcohol enters the blood stream, a stage of general inertia overtakes the drinker. Unless he is strongly stimulated he lapses into unconsciousness. When more than .5 per cent blood alcohol is present, the person is dead drunk, and because the brain centers controlling the heartbeat and breathing may become narcotized, death may follow. Now even the third and oldest level of integration has become impaired.
Detoxication and Habituation
How does the intoxicated person become sober again? This is brought about through the chemical process of oxidation. The alcohol is brought to the liver, and there it is oxidized, or burned, to form carbon dioxide and water. A small amount escapes through the breath and body fluids, but between 90 and 96 per cent is oxidized. Authorities differ regarding the amount of alcohol that may be oxidized in an hour, but it is generally agreed that the rate is constant until all the alcohol is gone. It cannot be hastened by exercise or by any other means yet discovered. Some authorities say the oxidation rate is ten cubic centimeters an hour.
As a person continues to indulge in alcoholic beverages, he establishes a tolerance for alcohol and can drink more before effects are apparent. He must drink increasingly more, too, to produce the same psychological effects which he formerly got with less. After continued drinking there comes a time when he finds he cannot get along without alcohol. He has formed the alcohol habit.
After approximately ten years of fairly steady drinking alcohol has become a real problem to the drinker, and he finds he cannot give up the habit. He has become an alcoholic. With women this period is shorter than it is with men. It usually takes less than seven years to make an alcoholic out of a woman who drinks habitually. The taboos against drinking by women cause them to drink secretly, and secret drinking means heavier drinking than social drinking.
